React Native is Meta's open-source framework for cross-platform mobile apps in JavaScript and TypeScript. One codebase, native iOS and Android apps, with room for web and desktop. We use it to build B2B and B2C apps for clients who want to get into mobile quickly without staffing two separate teams.
React Native is an open-source framework that Meta released in 2015 to run the same React components you would write for the web on iOS and Android. Under the hood, JavaScript or TypeScript is connected via a bridge to genuine native UI elements: Objective-C and Swift on iOS, Java and Kotlin on Android. The result is neither a webview nor a 'hybrid app' like Cordova or Ionic, but a native interface driven by React. What the user sees on screen are real UIKit or Android views; only the logic and orchestration live in JavaScript.
Over the past decade, the ecosystem has matured considerably. Apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Discord, Shopify, Microsoft Office and Walmart run parts of their experience on React Native, and a wide range of Fortune 500 companies use the framework somewhere in their product portfolio. Since version 0.76, the new architecture (Fabric as renderer, TurboModules for native modules) is the default, with Hermes as the JavaScript engine. This new architecture is the biggest performance leap since the first release: the old asynchronous bridge between JS and native has been replaced by synchronous, type-safe interop. For clients, this means less lag in interactions that used to be noticeable.
For clients, this means the following. One team, one codebase, two app stores. A developer who knows React for the web can contribute to the mobile app within a few days. The talent pool for React developers in the Netherlands is also considerably larger than for Swift or Kotlin specialists, which simplifies recruitment and long-term maintenance. We use React Native for B2B apps, customer portals, e-commerce, healthcare apps and field service tools, which we have elaborated on elsewhere in our field service app development work. For a broader view of our approach to apps, services/app-development is the place to start.
The typical users we encounter fall into four groups. Founders who want to launch an MVP without setting up two separate mobile teams. CTOs who need to choose a platform between React Native, Flutter and native, often while the web team already works in React. Established organisations with an ageing native app who are considering a phased migration to React Native. And agencies seeking white-label development for a client for whom they have no mobile capacity of their own.
You already have a React or TypeScript team building the web. React Native lets that same team deliver a mobile app without hiring Swift and Kotlin specialists. The productive overlap with the web codebase is significant: components, hooks, types and validation can be shared directly.
With Expo, we can put a testable version on stakeholders' phones fairly early. No Xcode setup, no Android Studio for reviewers. Iteration continues over the air via EAS Update, so feedback is visible to the business within a sprint or less.
Shopify itself builds its mobile apps on React Native and has contributed many open-source projects, including important libraries such as Restyle and React Native Skia. For e-commerce brands already running on Shopify, this is a natural extension where API tokens, data models and design tokens remain shared.
Building separate Swift and Kotlin apps effectively doubles the build time, the QA and the release coordination. With React Native we share 80 to 95 per cent of the code and build platform-specific exceptions only where needed for UX or access to a platform-specific API.
The JavaScript and TypeScript ecosystem, an easy transition for web teams, the most mature cross-platform open-source framework and a strong Expo offering for a quick start. The default choice when your team already knows React or you need an MVP. Mature tooling, a large talent pool and broad production proof at multinationals such as Microsoft, Meta and Shopify.
Its own rendering engine via Skia and better baseline performance for animation-heavy or graphically complex screens. Requires Dart knowledge and has a smaller talent pool in the Netherlands, but it is excellent for game-like UI and heavily custom design. Especially interesting when brand uniformity across platforms is a commercial requirement, because Flutter draws every pixel itself.
Maximum performance and the most native UX on each platform, essential for AR/VR, hardware-sensitive apps (Bluetooth mesh, IoT pairing, in-cab real-time vision) or wherever every millisecond counts. The costs are the highest, as you build twice and maintain two teams. For most business apps, however, the added value is not proportionate to the extra effort.
From consumer-facing to industrial tooling: a cross-section of apps we deliver for clients, often with deep integration into existing back ends, ERP and LLM integrations.
Apps for business users: portals, dashboards, mobile approval and workflow flows with SSO and role-based permissions.
Mobile shops with Shopify, Magento or headless commerce integration, push offers and deep links from campaigns.
Patient communication and care workflows, set up to comply with NEN 7510, with end-to-end encryption and audit logging.
Engineers and field staff: work orders, photos, forms and signatures, offline-first with automatic sync.
A mobile version of the web customer portal, with biometric login and push notifications for service alerts or invoice status.
LLM integrations, document scanning, speech-to-text, in-context assistance and personalised recommendations.
Apps that exchange data directly with SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Exact or AFAS via a gateway or a custom integration layer.
Scanning apps, stock corrections, delivery registration and route optimisation, integrated with WMS or TMS.
A modern React Native stack consists of more than just the framework itself. This is roughly what a sound production setup looks like. Depending on the scope we swap out components, but these are the building blocks we start with by default.
Expo SDK 52 or newer for the developer experience, EAS Build for cloud builds of iOS and Android binaries without needing your own Mac runners, and EAS Update for over-the-air updates without app store review. This combination removes the most time-consuming operational tasks from the team and standardises the release pipeline.
File-based routing with Expo Router (built on React Navigation v7), TanStack Query for server state and cache invalidation, and Zustand or Redux Toolkit for client state, depending on the complexity of the app. For forms we use React Hook Form and Zod for type-safe validation.
Reanimated 3 plus Gesture Handler for high-performance animations that run on the UI thread, NativeWind for Tailwind-style styling that doubles productivity compared with standalone StyleSheets, Sentry for error tracking and performance monitoring, and OneSignal or Firebase Cloud Messaging for push notifications with segment targeting.
Fabric replaces the old bridge with synchronous communication between JS and native, TurboModules provide lazy-loaded native modules, and Hermes has been the optimised JS engine since 0.70. For graphics-heavy work we use React Native Skia, the alternative to Flutter's rendering. Code splitting, lazy loading and memory profiling are standard steps in our QA process for production apps.
You already have a Swift or Kotlin app and want to build a new section more quickly. We add React Native as a module, the same approach Facebook itself uses, so that old and new screens coexist. This often starts with a single standalone feature, after which more screens move across step by step.
For new products without an existing native codebase: one Expo project, an EAS pipeline and one team. For most of the clients we start with, this is the fastest route to a production app. From day one we work with TypeScript, a shared monorepo for web and mobile, and automated tests via Detox or Maestro.
AR/VR applications, real-time vision pipelines (autonomous or in-cab), low-level Bluetooth mesh or IoT pairing, and graphics-heavy gaming belong on native. We say so openly before a project begins, as choosing the wrong framework is more costly than an honest conversation.
We work in two-week sprints with demos, a product owner on our side and on yours. A first working version is usually available on test devices within a few sprints, so you can quickly validate whether the direction is right before we broaden the scope.
The same team that builds the back end, the API and the web app delivers the React Native app. That reduces handover overhead, prevents domain knowledge from fragmenting across several agencies, and keeps data models, validation and the design system consistent between web and mobile.
EAS Build for app store binaries, EAS Update for over-the-air patches within app store guidelines, and a GitHub Actions pipeline that automatically tests every pull request on iOS and Android. Releases are therefore predictable and reversible: rolling back to the previous version is a single command, not a drama.
Not every business case justifies a native app. A progressive web app or a mobile-optimised website can suffice for simple use cases: displaying information, submitting forms, light interaction. You then avoid the app store, the release cycle and the maintenance of two platforms at once.
For business applications with returning users, that balance tips quickly, however. Push notifications, biometric authentication, background synchronisation, camera and file access, reliable offline operation and presence in an app store as a sign of trust: these are all reasons why a React Native app outperforms a PWA in practice. Moreover, for returning users the UX on iOS and Android is almost always noticeably better than a browser tab.
We recommend a PWA if the use case is occasional and users are unlikely to return weekly. For customer portals, field service, e-commerce loyalty and B2B workflows, React Native is almost always the better answer. We help you weigh this up before the project begins: an honest conversation beats an expensive change of direction halfway through.
Examples of the type of apps in our portfolio, described generically because many projects fall under NDA. The full experience and approach for app projects is set out at services/app-development and for enterprise software projects.
A mobile app for viewing orders, contracts and service tickets, integrated with an existing ERP via a dedicated API layer. One codebase for iOS and Android, single sign-on with your existing identity provider and biometric authentication as a second factor.
An app for returning customers with a loyalty programme, quick reorder and push notifications for parcel status and offers. Product data comes from a headless CMS, payments run through a Dutch payment provider, and deep links open seamlessly from e-mail campaigns.
An app with LLM integration for customer support and document questions: context-aware answers based on your own knowledge base, with a fallback to human handling. Streaming responses for a good user experience, cost control per user session, and logging to improve the prompt pipeline.
A half-hour introductory call in which we go through what you want to build, which platforms are involved, how it fits into your existing stack and whether React Native is actually the right choice, or whether we would be better off referring you to Flutter or native.
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